Delivery truck



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- E. R. WHITNEY DELIVERY TRUCK Filed Feb. '7, 1923 s sheets-'sheet 2 E.R. WHITNEY DELIVERY TRUCK Filed Feb. 1925 AMarch 1 19.27.

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- 1,619,775 Much, 1'71927 E.'R. WHITNEY DELIVERY. TRUCK Filed Feb. 'L M6 Sheets-Sheet v 6 Patented Mar; l, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,619,175 PATENT oFFic-E.

EDDY R.y WHITNEY, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 COMMERCIALTRUCK COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, EE1\T]\TSYIVAI\TIA, A CORPORATION OFPENN- SYLVANIA.

DELIVERY TRUCK.

Application led February 7, 1923. lSerial No. 617,540.

chassis and body particularly designed for` :me in deliveryservice-where stops are frerquent and deliveries many and closetogetlier as, for instance, the retail delivery of milk, vsaid vehiclebeing primarily made with 4a view to facilitating its operation by adriver occupying any of several positions, and more especiallypermitting' of convenient access from a number points to the boxes orpackages carried.

I further desire to provide a delivery truck of the above noted typehaving a transverse passage intermediate the ends thereof and opening onboth sides of said truck to permit ofl the boxes or other objectscarried beingstowed both in front and to the rear of it so as to beconveniently accessiblefrom either side of the truck as well as from therear end thereof; the invention also` contemplating a novel dispositionof the controllingiapparatus for the truck whereby it may be operated bya driver in either a standing or in Aa sitting position.

Another object of my invention is to provide a delivery truck having athrough passage with a novel form of drivers seat adj ustable into andout of it at will and bearing al convenient relation to an electriccontroller and steering wheel as well as to a brake-operating means/sopositioned as to be actuated by a driver when the latter is occupyingthe and having a body andy chassis adapted to provide a throughtransverse passage for a driver to the ,rear of the battery, saidpassage being so positioned as to permit boxes or cases being carriedboth in front of it and on its rear side. 4

These objects and other advantageous ends I attain as hereinafter setforth, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is aside elevation of a delivery EISSUED truck constructed inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line Fig. 1; c Figs 3 and e ai'erespectively a 'side elevation and a plan of the frame of my deliverytruck; f.

Fig. 5 is a transverse-section on the line 5 5, Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section taken longitudinally of the truckand illustrating my preferred arrangement of brake-control lingmechanism and the parts of the frame associated therewith;

Fig. 7 is a plan of the frame and braking mechanism shown in Figj;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged vertical section showi ing the preferredconstructionv of one of the side doors of my vdelivery truck;

Fig. 9 is a horizontal sectionon the line 9 9, Fig. 8; and,

, Figs. 10 and 11 are side and front' elevations partly in section,illustrating a form of drivers seat constituting part of my invention.

In the above drawings, 1 2 represent parallel, longitudinallyextendingbeams or girders, each constituting one ofthe side membersl ofthe chassis of my vehicle, consisting of a front section 1, arearsection 2, and a downwardly extending, substantially U-sliapedframe 34-5 having the tops of its side members 3 and 5 respectively connectedto said sections 2 and 1. sections 1, at apoint intermediate its frontend and the frame-ineiiiber 5, has 'connected to it a downwardlyvextending member 6 of the same length as said member 5 and the bottomends of these ltwo members are connected by a horizontal member 7parallel with theA section 1.

An inclined brace 8 is extended upwardly and' forwardly from the pointof junction of the members 6 and 7 to the frame member l and a secondbrace9 is extended upwardly and rearwardly from the point of junction ofthe frame members 3 and 4 and the frame' member 2. ,The two trussesformed by the .above frame elements 1 9 are substantially parallel andare braced and tied together by transverse members 1'0 19. j The frameformed by these members and said trusses is supported in any desired andsuitable mannel;1 011i two pairs of wheels indicated'at 9() an 9 Thespaces defined by the. twcfsets-of frame members 5' 7-61 aresubstantiall vrectangular .in outline' andA together wit cross oor beams92, form a casing for the reception'of astorage battery, while the space-23 defined by the two sets of ,frame members constitutes a throughpassageway immdiatelyl to the rear of the batteryhcasing'and, ofsubstantially the .same et f n the chassis above'described is mounted asuitable closed body having a floorl portion in front of the passageway23`and a sec ond or main floor portion 21 `to the rear of said passage.The latter itself preferably has a floor 22, a front wall20kand a rearwall 21", the body being'V otherwise'made up of sides 24-'24, a top 25,a front and an extension 26? from the front gener'- ally similar inpositionl and form to the cowl of an engine driven. motor vehicle. Atthe front of this extension is a hood 27.

The front 26 is preferably made in the form of a rectangular framestructure having a glass window therein (not shown) and each of thesides 24 has in it an elongated vertical opening 23a extending from thetop f/ down to the level of the floor 22 of the passage 23, whichopening is provided with a door structure 28 slidable in a verticalplane, for which purpose it is provided with a pair of wheels or rollers29 attached to its top edge and slidable in a suitable guide' way 30from a position-in which it closes the passage 23 to a position Vto therear-of said passage and parallel with the adjacent portions of the side24, the lower edge of said door structure being guided by a rail 30a asshown in the drawings.

To make possible this sliding` action of the door, it is preferably madeto include an upper section 31,'which has in its-top half a window 32,and a bottom section 33. This latter is ,vertically slidable so thatwhen.

dropped it may close the lower portion :of the passage 23 and whenraised may be held flush with or clear of the bottom edge of the section31 permitting the latter to bemoved to the rear tov completelyopen thethrough passage 23. For the purpose of holding the section 33 in itsraised position its upper part has a projection 34 designed to cooperatewith a spring catch 34a on the upper part of the member 31.

Forvpropellingmy truck I provide suite able electric motors (not shown)designed in vthe present instance to drive the rear wheels 91 andsupplied with electric current from a storage battery in the casing orbox 93. The operation of the vehicle is governed by an electriccontroller 35 mounted under the cowlI portion 26* of the bodyandsupported so as to be rearwardly inchned at an angle of about 45 to thehorizontal. This controller is operated by a hand wheel 36 xed adjacentthe. controller wheel 36.A This" steering post is connected to governthe' posi-y tion ofthe front. wheels in the mannerwell understoqdy inthis art and thesteering vand controlling wheels are so positioned as.

to be convenientlyfaccessible for and readily.

operative by a driver standingin the passagewa 23.. "j

` The raking mechanism "or" the ,truck in@A cludes arod or link 39extending rearwardly froma lever arm 40 to any suitable brake bands orother devices operative en drums applied to the rear wheels 91.* Inorder to permitof the convenient operationA of these brakesfnotshown)'by a driver standing in, `the passageway 23, I

ulcrumK in the latter an elgted p edal lever 41 vhaving -a foot plate 42and operative on av collar 43 fixed to a rod or link 44 whose lower' endis -connected through'abell crank lever 45, a link 46, a second bellcrank lever47','and a link 48,*w1th a leverarm 49 fixed tb atransversely extending shaft 50. 'This last shaft is carried in bearingsbelow the frame mem# bers 2, immediately to the rear of the mem. bers 3and to it are also fixed arms 40 -which operate the brakes through thelinks or chains 39. j Y

It is to be noted that that end of the lever 41 which engages the collar43'is so formed as to permit independent longitudinal movement of thelink 44 and said -lever has piv-j oted to it a. toothed segment -51movable through an opening in a plate 52, mounted in the floor 22, theparts being so arranged that said segment will cooperate with the edgeof said opening to hold the foot-engaged end of the lever 41 in anyVdepressed position withthe brakemechanism applied. This segment isformed-with an arm 53 projecting adjacent the foot plate 42 so that itmay be applied by the foot ofthe driver and a spring 54 is connectedbetweentjhe segment and the lever 41 so 'as to tendto disengage saidteeth from the'ioor plate.

In` order to permit the braking mechalnism of the truck being operatedby hand,

I also provide a hand` lever 55v ,ulcrumed to a suitable supportingstructure moeuntetl upwardly immediately to the rear f the controller 35at one side thereof. T lever has fixed to it an arm 56 connected on therontfloor section 20 and pig? atings hand through a link 457- witl1 anarm v58' fixed to I a short shaft 59. To this shaft is also fixed abell/crank lever 60 having one-of its arms connected to the upper end ofthe link 44. The second arm is connected through a link 61 with a secondfoot lever 62 fulcrumed to a bracket 63 immediately adjacent the hand23, while the foot lever 62 is in such a posi-` tion that it. may beConveniently operated by a driver when the latter is seated upon a chairor seat mounted inthe space im mediatelyabove the passageway 23. Y

While it will be understood that this seat may have any desired orsuitable' construction, I preferablyl` provide adjacent the rear 'sideof the Hoor 22 a socket 80 designed to receive the lower end of avertically extending bar or stem .81. against the rear wall 21b of thespacel 23 vand has its upper end laterally braced and properlypositioned by a retaining strap or guide 82. On the'upper` end of thebar 81 f is mounted the seat proper indicated at 74 and this is suitablycarried by an angle brace 83 so yas to project forwardly over the space23 at they heightI necessary to (support the driver of the truck in asitting position. When desired, the seat may be removed by drawing itupwardly so that the bar 81 slides out of the retaining strap 82, thusleaving the space or passageway 23 clear as may be required for certainpurposes.

When the seat has been positioned as shown in the drawings it may beconveniently used by a driver in` operating the truck for relativelylongor non-stop runs. When however,the driver desires to make a number ofstopsiatshort intervals and isy com'- pelled to repeatedly enter andleave the truck, as is necessary in delivering milk, for example, theseat may be -removed out of the way of the driver who may stand in orpass through the passageway:

From the above description it will be appreciated that a truckconstructed as above 'described is particularly ada ted for thetransportation and delivery o milk in bottles. The latter arecustomarily placed .inv boxes containing a dozen and it is customary fora delivery. truck to carry not only vbottles.containing different gradesof milk, but also bottles of cream, buttermilk, etc. By providing thepassageway 23 between the twofloorcportions 20 and 21 of the body, it ispossible to place the bottle-containing boxes infront of as well asbehind this passage- The latter lies way and to arrange them in a numberof layers or tiers which may be stepped rela tively to each other. Thedriver Ithus has free access to the different grades of milk or cream,etc., without being. required to frequently shift the positions of theboxes and he may also have access to the latter fr om the rear of thebody.

By the 'arrangement shown, relatively large storage spaces are providedfor the milk boxes and it isobvious thatthe driver may easily andquickly have access to the bottles therein because of the convenientposition of the passageway 23 which allows entry of the truck fromeither side thereof. It willvfurther be noted that the bottom of thepassageway isl but a short distance above the ground level, so that itisl an easy matter to enter and leave the truck and operate the latterwith a minimum of delay in making the frequent stops and short distanceruns necessary in delivering milk Vfor domestic purposes.

I claim:

1. The combination in a motor vehicle ol a main frame made in twosections, and a depression between the two sections of the vframeforming a transverse passage; means for suspending the floor of saidpassage from the said main frame; and a battery carrier,

the floor of which is attached at its inner,

end to the Isuspended ioor structure of the passage, while the forwardend from the main frame.

2. The combination in a motor vehicle of a frame having downwardlyextending portions defining a transverse passage; a body on theframefhaving sides openings at the ends of the passage; load-carryingfloor sections both at the front and rea-r of the pas sage, with brakemechanism extending under the transverse passage; and two sets ofbrake-actuating mechanisms, one located in the passage, and the otherlocated on .the floor in front of the passage.

is suspended lll() '3. -The combination 1u .ga motor vehicle of a mainframe made in two sections separated by a transverse passage; a floorfor said passage suspended from the main frame; vbrake,

mechanism consisting of links and levers extending from the V mainfra-me and under the floor of the passage; an actuating lever for thebrake mechanism on the Vfront floor of the main frame; ,and a'second'actuating lever for the ,brake mechanism located within thetransverse passage.'

EDDY. R. WHITNEY.

